Komast Dancers on an Attic Black-figure Cup (Illustration)

Illustration

by Getty Museum
published on 15 October 2020

Komast Dancers on an Attic Black-figure Cup — Attic black-figure cup from c. 580-560 BCE, attributed to the Painter of Copenhagen 103, in J. Paul Getty Museum 79.AE.128.
Komos-dancing was a common behaviour after a symposium. The now properly drunk guests would rush out in a crazy dance that involved leaps and jumps and loose hand and arm shakes and gestures. This complex picture of drinking climax was a popular subject for decorating wine cups. It appears on many black-figure and red-figure cups and other ceramic vessels produced in the mainland Greece and beyond.
In ancient writings, the word “komos” means a revel particularly in honour of Dionysos. It is an erroneous derivation of “kome” meaning an unwalled village, and, through its connection with the collective, mimetic, and Dionysian dance, became the root of “komoidia” or “comedy”.

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Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program. The Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required. Original image by Getty Museum. Uploaded by Nathalie Choubineh, published on 15 October 2020. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Public Domain. This item is in the public domain, and can be used, copied, and modified without any restrictions. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

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References

Smith, Tyler Jo. Komast Dancers in Archaic Greek Art. Oxford University Press, 2010.

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Museum, G. (2020, October 15). Komast Dancers on an Attic Black-figure Cup. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/12886/komast-dancers-on-an-attic-black-figure-cup/

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Museum, Getty. "Komast Dancers on an Attic Black-figure Cup." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified October 15, 2020. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/12886/komast-dancers-on-an-attic-black-figure-cup/.

MLA Style

Museum, Getty. "Komast Dancers on an Attic Black-figure Cup." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 15 Oct 2020. Web. 20 Dec 2024.

Komast Dancers on an Attic Black-figure Cup

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